I talked to a guy yesterday who called 180degrees of a coil "one coil." This got me thinking that if I cut my version of one coil, 360 degrees, it will be too low. what is the accepted version of "one coil" and how much drop can I expect from a 360degree cut? 2"? I'd like my car's stance to be similar to sleeper's 63. http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w88/phantomsdib/Picture001.jpg thank you for your time.
well one coil is one coil...360° is one full circle..ie..one coil..I took 1.5 coils out of my 53 chevy it looks good it lowered it around 2 inches and it didnt effect the ride in a bad way..it acctually improved the stance and the cornering a bit , but i did replace alot of suspension parts too, and lowered the rear about 3.5". I know its conservative compared to some of the cars on here but i live where ground clearence is a necessity
How much it will drop all depends on teh spring rate and how you will affect that as well as the height. 2" seems about average for 1 coil, shich I consider to be 360 degrees. Seems like half a circle is, well, half a circle...
The "Half a coil is one "coil" thing comes from flattening the coil back out at the top. Meaning, to get 1 coil out, you don't just lop one off and stuff it back in there-you're supposed to go 180 degrees from your "cut" and heat and flatten the coil out, so that it sits in the cup correctly...meaning that if you take a full 360 degrees of metal out, then heat and flatten, you have essentially taken out 1.5 coils. Dig?
Yeah, what they said--one coil is 360-degrees. Pulling out coils can be a little time consuming, but when you cut these, do it in stages. Don't try to make the full cut the first time--cut half a coil, put the spring in, drive around a couple days and see how you like it and how it settles out. Then cut the other half of the coil, and repeat. Keep cutting until you either get the ride height you want, the ride quality you can live with, or start to lose clearnace between the control arms and the bump stops. I've talked to A LOT of guys who cut too much out in one whack, and then had to buy new springs. -Brad
The rules of thumb I learned from an old timer: - When you have the car sitting level, measure the distance from the center of one coil turn to the next. Removing a full coil should lower the car roughly that much. - Cut no more than half a coil at one time to make sure. Some springs are wound progressively, so measuring coil-to-coil doesn't work. Other springs are shot, so some coils might be weaker than others and the measuring technique won't play. - The best way to cut a coil is with a cutoff wheel. You can get thru one with a torch, but the heat may cause the last inch or so to lose its temper. Never quench the spring after cutting. - Don't lower a car by just heating the spring to make it sag. Eventually the spring will fatigue and break at the heated spot.
There is often a spring which is the right diameter wire, the right diameter coils, the right spring rate, the right ends (square, pig tail, tangential) that can be subs***uted and give ride and low. See the MOOG coil spring catalog at your local auto parts store.
Yes, but cutting coils is free. Also many times the resulting stiffer spring rate is desired in the lower car.
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